Titanomachy
by Reber02
Summary: *warning: here be spoilers* If you haven't seen the season finale, don't read. In the parallel world, William Bell and Massive Dynamics are the only ones able to prevent our world’s destruction at the hands of the mad genius, Walter Bishop.


In the parallel world, William Bell and Massive Dynamics are the only ones able to prevent our world's destruction at the hands of the mad genius, Walter Bishop. *warning* spoilers.

_Author's note: This is __only__ speculation on what might be happening on Fringe. I am in the completely in the dark about what JJ plans for next season, so just view this as yet another alternate reality ; ) Also, I am sure I have missed some plot points along the way. Oh well._

Titanomachy

_And Night bore hateful Doom and black Fate and Death... And again the goddess murky Night, though she lay with none, bore Blame and painful Woe. Also she bore the Destinies and ruthless avenging Fates who give men at their birth both evil and good, and pursue the transgressions of men and of gods: these goddesses never cease from their dread anger until they punish the sinner with a sore penalty. - The Theogony of Hesiod._

Olivia stared out the window unable to believe, despite the multitude of surreal occurrences she had already experienced in her lifetime. The twin tower gleamed bright in the red sun. Behind her William Bell waited patiently.

"Tell me, Mr. Bell," she commanded, her voice sounding strange to her own ears. "What is going on?"

"It's very complicated," he replied, staring at her with burning intensity. "But the short answer is: this world's Walter Bishop has been working to destroy your…_our_ world. Massive Dynamics has been able to stop him, up until now. Now it is certain we are going to fail. And when that happens, our world will end in fire and blood."

Olivia spun around, trying to look into his shadowed eyes, incredulous. "Walter Bishop? No, he couldn't!" She thought about what she said, and amended "I mean, maybe he could, but Walter would never…" She remembered what she had learned about her childhood. The drug trials, the experiments Walter and William had inflicted on her. But still, it was a stretch to think that Walter Bishop, who had helped her so enthusiastically with her investigations, who loved his son with such earnestness, would ever intentionally try to harm anyone, let alone destroy a world. "Walter?" she asked again, unable to believe.

"The Walter Bishop from this world is not the man you know. It is true that, like our Walter Bishop, he is a genius of rare, almost unheard of, intellect. But this world's Walter Bishop had something very precious taken from him and that loss drove him to the point of dangerous insanity. He will stop at nothing to retrieve what he lost and punish the world that took from him." A wave of tired regret crossed Bell's features. "Our world," he added.

_He looks so old_, Olivia noted absently.

"What was it?" Olivia demanded when Bell did not elaborate. "What was taken from the Walter in this world that was so important that he would want to destroy ours?"

"His son."

Olivia felt as if the floor lurched under her feet. She put out a hand to the desk to steady herself. "Peter?" she asked weakly. Distantly she realized that she could still be shocked by events. With ruthless will, she forced herself to think, to try to find out the answers before she was ripped back into the "her" world. "Who would take this world's Peter? Wait, does that mean there are two Peters in our world?" She wondered if the Peter she knew what the Peter of that world, or of hers. The feeling of events spinning out of control intensified.

Bell drew a deep breath, knowing this was not going to be easy for any of them in the next few days, especially his old partner who, in his grief-stricken madness had inadvertently started an inter-dimensional war. "Technically yes, there are two Peters in our world. Our world's Peter, however, died when he was a young boy."

Olivia's mouth was dry. "Then, the Peter I know…"

"The one you know, the cocky con-artist, is originally from this world." Bell finished for her. He glanced at the clock. "We don't have much time, so let me explain. Walter and I, through our use of various chemical experiments, had become aware of this world. We tried to figure out how we could crossover, but failed time and again. That was when young Peter began to get sick. He kept getting worse and eventually, his doctors gave up. But Walter didn't." Bell paused.

"Walter brought Peter to the lab and tried everything he could think of to cure his son. He even tried to built a time machine to bring a doctor who had died many years earlier to our time is order to treat Peter. But in the end it was no use, young Peter died in the lab."

Olivia could see the old grief in Bell's eyes, still fresh despite the time past. She waited for Bell to continue.

"When that happened, Walter locked himself the lab. I was out of the country and didn't realize what he was doing. Walter refused to let anyone in, or bring Peter's body out. Finally, after four days I returned. Hearing about what had happened I went to the lab, determined to break the door down if necessary, and found the door wide open. Walter and Peter's body were gone."

"What about Walter's wife?" Olivia asked with horror.

"They were separated at that time and I do not believe Walter had told her about Peter. When I contacted his wife, trying to find Walter, she told me she thought they were at the beach house. It seemed strange that she didn't sound upset so I drove out there. When I arrived, there was a happy Walter and a very much alive, healthy Peter."

Olivia could see where this was heading. "So Walter figured out how to open a window to this world, and used it to kidnap his own son?" she asked.

"No," Bell shook his head. "This Peter was not his son. This Peter belonged to the Walter Bishop of this world, an entirely different person who identically shares Walter's intellect and drive. The difference is that the Walter of this world has lost the vital thing that keeps his madness in check: his son."

Olivia swallowed, trying to get moisture into her throat. "But what happened to our Walter then? He got Peter, why did he still go mad?"

"Because Walter, in his grief didn't stop to consider that while the boy himself was Peter, it wasn't his Peter. There were subtle differences in the boy, enough to keep reminding Walter of the son he lost. Remember, the Peter of our world was not the same boy as the Peter Walter stole to replace him and as a result, they were never as close like Walter and his own son were. I think that continuous reminder is what eventually eroded our Walter's sanity and resulted in the lab accident that cost Walter his assistant." Bell raised his hand to forestall Olivia's questions.

"What we didn't consider at that time was the Walter of this world also lost his son, not to death but to a kidnapper who looked exactly like his father. We didn't understand what those repercussions would be. Think about it: Walter of our world was able to reach through time and even across dimensions to bring Peter to him. Of course the Walter of this world has that same capability. Only this Walter wants revenge in addition to the return of his son. To that end, he and his followers have been working to wreak havoc in our world."

"The manifesto!" Olivia exclaimed.

Bell nodded. "Yes, I wrote it," he admitted. "When Walter and I became aware of this world, I felt it would be wise to recognize the possibility of an invasion, but I never would have guessed that my friend and partner would trigger it."

"Why didn't you just make Walter return Peter to his father?" Olivia demanded. "You were his partner; you knew what he did and understood the consequences!"

Bell's eyes were dark with regret and guilt. "I owed Walter too much to do that to him," he said quietly.

But Olivia wasn't fooled for an instant. She had been trained to read emotions and she knew that Bell wasn't being entirely truthful with her. "You owed Walter what? What did you owe him that was worth an inter-dimensional war? What was worth all the horror and pain that is happening in our world right now? What did you do..?" she trailed off as she realized the answer. "Oh god, Peter died because of you?"

Bell nodded, avoiding her eyes. "You are correct. I was so sure that I had the advanced Cortexiphan formula perfected! I didn't tell Walter that I substituted the advanced version with the one we had developed earlier. And Peter seemed fine, at first. But he started to show odd symptoms that he had never exhibited before, and I knew then something had gone terribly wrong. So I stopped the advanced trials, but it was too late. You know the rest."

"Does Peter know anything about this?" Olivia asked slowly, her thoughts churning wildly as she tried to grasp two sides of different realities.

"No. Peter has no idea. He was too young when Walter took him to recognize the differences between our world and his. I tried to keep an eye on him when Walter was committed to the asylum, but by then the other Walter was beginning to make his presence known in our world and I felt it necessary to prepare to defend our world from what that Walter would unleash on us in his madness."

"He has to be told," Olivia insisted.

Bell nodded. "I agree, but I cannot leave this world right now. The Walter here is nearly able to open a window somewhere in our world. He plans to use anti-matter devices as bombs. He will use the first one as an example, probably in some highly populated city such as Beijing or London. In an exchange for not using anymore, he wants the return of Peter. If he succeeds, once he gets Peter back, Walter will then most certainly detonate more all over the world."

"Do you really think he would do that, even after Peter returns?" Olivia asked, searching Bell's eyes for truth.

"Without hesitation," Bell answered firmly. "Remember, this Walter is insane with the need for revenge. He blames our world for taking his son and this Walter will punish everyone in it for that."

Olivia nodded slowly, thinking furiously. "Can you hold off Walter until I talk to Peter?" she asked.

"Yes, but not for long. That's why you must hurry." Bell answered. He moved toward the door and opened it for her. She walked past him and out into the hallway. "Our only real hope is that Peter can talk to Walter and convince him not to destroy our world. Oh, and Olivia?"

She turned to him, impatient to get back. "Yes?"

"It was a real pleasure to see you again."

_Fin_


End file.
